Minimally invasive surgical techniques such as endoscopies and laparoscopies are often preferred over traditional surgeries because the recovery time, pain, and surgery-related complications are typically less with minimally invasive surgical techniques. Rather than cut open large portions of the body in order to access inner cavities, surgeons either rely on natural orifices of the body or create one or more small orifices in which surgical instruments can be inserted to allow surgeons to visualize and operate at the surgical site.
Some minimally invasive procedures can require that a working end of a device, which is inserted into the body, be articulated to angularly reorient the working end relative to the tissue. During such a procedure, for example, it is often necessary to reorient the working end such that jaws at the working end are at an angle relative to a shaft of the device, while still allowing the jaws to open and close to grasp tissue. Such angulation is often achieved via one or more cables attached to the jaws. However, with current cable driven jaw reorienting actuation systems, after articulation of the device, the cables are subject to high tensions which makes opening and closing of the jaws with precision difficult.
Accordingly, there remains a need for improved methods and devices for actuating surgical instruments.